Look at my wood(and tell me if it's oak)

My parents had a tree cut down some time ago and there are logs just sitting at their house. I'm hoping it's white oak that I can cut up for homebrews. Are there any tree geniuses out there that can identify a tree just by looking at the log? If you can't tell just by looking at it are there any tricks to identify oak(I don't have any leaves). They live in Cincinnati if that helps. Thanks

What you have there is oak, but not the white oak you were hoping for, that is red oak, one of my favorite woods for the BBQ pit.

I agree - that is red oak.

Bummer. Thanks. Is white oak just lighter in color?

weisennt said:

Bummer. Thanks. Is white oak just lighter in color?

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It's hard to tell the difference by looking at the wood grain- color. I can tell by the bark on your logs... Red oak has bigger smoother panels of bark, where are white oak has smaller rougher bark panels, indicative of chestnut oak, and burr oak both of which are family of white oak. Also you can tell by splitting it, white oak splits very stringy, especially when green.

I think he was asking in terms of flavor contribution. I've never added wood but i seem to remember seeing in threads around here that white is really the least overwhelming to use-- from what i gather, it's pretty easy to overpower your beer with any other type of oak.

moorerm04 said:

It's hard to tell the difference by looking at the wood grain- color. I can tell by the bark on your logs... Red oak has bigger smoother panels of bark, where are white oak has smaller rougher bark panels, indicative of chestnut oak, and burr oak both of which are family of white oak. Also you can tell by splitting it, white oak splits very stringy, especially when green.

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Appreciate the help